 In the face of numerous reports that Meta’s AI-powered smartglasses are a potential privacy nightmare, the company is recruiting celebrities like Kylie Jenner to help make its public-relations case to its Gen Z target market. Jenner is savvy enough to have parlayed her fame into a reported net worth of a billion dollars. Though Jenner sits at the intersection of celebrity and wealth, she seems to be glossing over the creep factor – and that may also help to explain the backlash she’s receiving. It’s also puzzling that Meta tech chief Andrew Bosworth would use a specious argument to dismiss privacy concerns rather than address them directly. When asked about the issue at a press conference, he said: “I’m old enough to remember when there was controversy about phones having cameras, and this predates even the smartphones that we have today. So, there is this social learning thing that has to happen.” Like learning to give up our privacy and open ourselves to stalking and predation – as women in New York are already having to do? Some women were asked: Where’s your boyfriend? What’s your diet? Have we met before? – questions posed by perfect strangers who happened to be wearing Meta smartglasses. Bosworth seems unaware that social learning is not inherently productive and that smartglasses are far more than the technological equivalent of being able to take a selfie with a smartphone. Or consider reports of women in Texas who thought they were having genuine interactions with strangers, only to end up as the subjects of social media posts with millions of views – against their wishes. Or consider the women in Brussels, who were filmed without their consent by creepers wearing Meta glasses looking to post footage on online “seduction coaching” sites. The BBC’s Kali Hays offers even more context in her analysis. A Meta spokesperson told Hays, “We have teams dedicated to limiting and combating misuse, but as with any technology, the onus is ultimately on individual people to not actively exploit it.” Attorney and privacy advocate David Kessler told Hays: “There are some pretty dark places we could go here. I'm not anti-technology in any sense, but as a societal matter ... will I need to think [of being recorded] anytime I go out in public?” Meta is taking the approach of trusting that all users will abide by the terms of service and do the right thing. Some users no doubt will, but not all. When we’re talking about matters as fundamental as personal privacy, enacting commonsense laws is the smarter approach. If an analogy is helpful, think of mandated safety features such as requiring large vehicles to sound a warning when shifting into reverse. After all, as the BBC and many others have pointed out, the minuscule light Meta claims is sufficient to announce that the glasses are in recording mode is laughably inadequate for that purpose. For the record, not all celebrities are buying what Jenner is selling. Lorde at least had the good sense to call out the privacy issues and push back forcefully on the whole idea. “Can I just say, for the record,” she reportedly told a festival crowd in Madrid, “F--- the glasses. Don't get the glasses. Not sexy.” Because aiming wearable spy tech at nonconsenting adults never is. Comments are closed.
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